Canada’s Redmann and Saxton upset Brazilian pair to stay alive at World Tour

PRAGUE (May 24, 2012) – Christian Redmann of Toronto and Ben Saxton of Calgary (in photo from today) upset a strong Brazilian pair to remain in contention at the fifth stop on the FIVB World Tour circuit in beach volleyball.

Redmann and Saxton opened main draw play losing a close match to fifth seeds and world champions Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil 17-21, 21-14, 15-13.

The tournament is a double elimination format therefore the Canadians moved to the repechage bracket and stayed alive by defeating 12th seeds Harley Marques Silva and Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior of Brazil 21-17, 16-21, 17-15.

The next match for Redmann and Saxton is Friday against 11th seeds Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik of Germany who have posted two fifth place finishes this season on the circuit.

By being assured as the top Canadian finisher here, Redmann and Saxton also reinforced their position as the number-one Canadian team heading into next month’s Continental Cup Olympic qualifier. The top-two ranked Canadian pairs on the Tour qualify for that event.

Josh Binstock of Toronto and Martin Reader of Comox, B.C., lost their opening two main draw matches and were eliminated.

They fell to ninth seeds Premysl Kubala and Petr Benes of the CzechRepublic 21-17, 21-16 and then to eighth-seeds Ricardo Alex Costa Santos and Pedro Henrique Cunha of Brazil 21-15, 21-23, 15-10 in a 56 minute match. Ricardo and Cunha, the world championship runners-up, already have a win and a third place finish this season on the circuit.

‘’ The second match against Ricardo/Cunha was a great match.’’ said Binstock. ‘’We started slow and rough but battled back to win the second set. We played well enough to win at times. To beat a team like that you have to play well throughout the whole match because they aren't going to give you anything.’’